CS-Mount and C-Mount Lenses are two different lens mounts used for Lynx cameras. As most Lynx timers know, it’s easy to accrue many different event-specific lenses over time. The type of lens used is a crucial factor in optimizing your photo-finish camera.

What’s similar between a CS-Mount and a C-Mount?

C-Mount and CS-Mounts are very similar; ‘C’ and ‘CS’ Mount devices all have the same screw thread. They both have a 1-inch threaded screw-on attachment.

What’s different between CS-Mount and C-Mount?

The difference is that a C-Mount Lens needs to be 5mm farther away from the Image Sensor in order to focus properly.

Why is the difference between these two lenses so important?

The CS-Mount Lens is 5mm smaller than a C-Mount Lens. An easy way to think about it is that the S in CS-Mount stands for Small. The regular C-Mount is 5mm larger. This is important because the type of lens on each camera requires a certain distance between the Image Sensor and the lens.

When to Use Which Adapter

Because Vision cameras have a CS-Mount, you need to add the CS-C Mount adapter if you install a C-Mount Lens on a Vision camera. The table below shows which mount goes with each Lynx camera. As seen below, our Vision-series cameras have a CS-Mount on the camera. You can use a C-Mount lens on Vision cameras, but a CS-to-C Mount adapter is needed.

The EtherLynx-series has a C-Mount on the camera. This allows it to use C-Mount lenses. Unfortunately, a CS-Lens cannot be used on a C-Mount because the focal distance wouldn’t be correct. The C-Mount wouldn’t allow the CS-Lens to be close enough. It would be 5mm too far from the sensor.